Ariyoshi’s quiet masterclass
George Ariyoshi and Nelson Doi (Lt. Governor candidate) in an advertisement for their election in 1974. Ariyoshi would serve as governor from 1974 to 1986, the longest-serving governor of the state. PC: Friends of Ariyoshi/Doi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons During the 7:00 a.m. hour on April 20th, just when the people of the State of Hawaiʻi were getting ready for work, news came down that Hawaiʻiʻs third governor since ...
A Makakilo campaign, in the middle of town
Election season in Hawaii has arrived, with signs being hung, posted, or otherwise erected for candidates running for office. The fact that this happens every two years is about as newsworthy as telling everyone that the sun comes up every morning in the east. In other words, not very newsworthy. However, there are those examples of sign posting that pique the interest of this blogger when out and about. That ...
Riding the wave, changing the current
The news of new advertisements promoting Derek Kawakami came through a text, “Heard a radio ad for Kawakami on the radio by the carpenters. They starting early. Was a good, positive ad.” Kawakami had announced only a couple of weeks before that he was filing to run for the office of Lt. Governor, challenging incumbent Sylvia Luke. Curious about the timing, it didn’t take long to see the visual version ...
Hero worship has a half-life – What the César Chávez collapse reveals about public reputation
While this blogger was attending a conference in Washington, D.C. during the week of March 15, 2026, a blockbuster event unfolded on the other side of the country—California. It would only be after returning to Hawaii that the revelations against Farmworker Union leader César Chávez came to light, with immediate effects from it. During that week, within 72 hours, accusations against the former United Farm Workers Union head came to ...
The goodwill test for Sylvia Luke
Right in the middle of what can now clearly be called Phase Two of the Sylvia Luke story, the Lieutenant Governor took to Instagram on February 23rd to address the campaign donation controversy directly. On the surface, the video is her attempt to explain what happened and clarify how her campaign handled the donations in question. But politically, the move is also something quite familiar in Hawaiʻi politics — when ...
